INSIDE County announces new additions to Leadership Team > page 2
Volume 66 Number 14 • April 8, 2021
After 11 years, Stamey heads for new role in Hanover County
County to host Clean-Up event this Saturday
Tell Me a Story
By Roslyn Ryan Editor
From ushering in new parks to resurrecting old buildings, former Deputy CA has left his mark on Goochland By Roslyn Ryan Editor
When now former Goochland Deputy County Administrator Derek Stamey first came to the County’s Parks, Recreation and Facilities Department eleven years ago, he knew almost immediately what his first task was going to be: Removing the barbed wire that was then ringing the county’s youth football field. His goal was simple, Stamey said: “We wanted to show people that we were open and available. To me, that wire was a symbol of keeping people out — and we wanted to bring them in.” Since that first week, Stamey and his team have worked tirelessly toward that goal, creating proSTAMEY grams, adding recreational amenities—including a host of new park facilities spread out across the County — and helping to revive and repurpose the County’s former Central see Stamey > 3
Courtesy photo
Patrick Gannon Jr., left, in an undated family photo taken around 1988, giving his father Patrick Gannon Sr. a lift on his motorcycle.
The Weather Forecaster Patrick Gannon Contributing Writer
Editor’s note: The following contribution is part of the Gazette’s continuing series “Tell Me a Story,” in which we ask our readers to share tales from their own lives or the lives of close family members.
M
y dad was a Cold War warrior. The son of an Army artillery officer, he began in Korea with a select group — the GHQ Raiders, a precursor to the Army Special Forces — doing things like sneaking ashore
in rubber boats to perform reconnaissance. He carried a piece of shrapnel in his hip for the rest of his life but made it out alive with a couple of horror stories. After college he joined the Air Force as a meteorologist officer working for SAC (Strategic Air Command). When we lived in Massachusetts, he worked in the middle of a mountain in a nuke-hardened facility we were never allowed into. During this period, he picked up a reputation for being a good weather forecaster. After his time in the mountain, he see Story > 3
As Goochland residents continue to seek solutions for the nagging issue of trash piling up along the county’s roadways, the County government is offering a chance to take a hands-on approach to the problem. On Saturday, April 10, Goochland County will be holding a Countywide Litter Clean-Up Day from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., the third in a line of many future events local officials say will be aimed at taming the County’s trash problem. Saturday’s event includes three staging locations focusing on specific areas, including: Byrd Elementary School (2704 Hadensville Fife Road), which will address Hadensville Fife Road Central High Cultural and Educational Complex (2748 Dogtown Road), which will address Dogtown Road and Whitehall Road Goochland County Fire Rescue Station # 3 – Centerville (52 Broad Street Road), which will address areas along Broad Street Road (Rt. 250) in the Centerville Village and along Manakin Road & Hockett Road Goochland County’s Department of General Services is coordinating the clean-up and asks that volunteers pre-register if possible, although it is not required. Anyone interested in participating can register by contacting the Department of General Services’ main office at (804) 5565340 or by email at litterfreegoochland@ goochlandva.us. see Clean-Up > 2